Gaia Will be Angry With Us: Solar Power Subsidy Cut
GAIA will be angry with us. But we should still welcome this as good news.
Under current plans, the level of the feed-in tariff is likely to more than halve, from 43p per kWh to 20p. The solar industry says it can broadly live with that level, but some companies warned that schemes to provide disadvantaged communities and households with low-cost power and heating would be the most likely to be scrapped under the changes.
We might want to ask ourselves why, if the solar companies can live with this lower level of subsidy, they’ve been allowed to stick their hands into our wallets for the higher amount. Subsidy should be, after all, only just enough to get things moving, not twice the amount it needs to be.
But after that, the decision should be applauded. We will have to pay less on our electricity bills to subsidise this particular form of power generation. And the systems that won’t get built are the ones that are the least economic to build. This is what we want, after all.
That whatever amount of money we’re willing to spend on Gaia we get that amount spent in the most efficient manner possible. The most ‘leccie for whatever amount we spend. Pissing about sticking the odd panel on the occasional house is just pissing that cash away. So we shouldn’t be doing it, however much we might want to save the planet. We can save more of the planet by spending the same money elsewhere. Somewhere it might be useful for example.
Posted: 28th, October 2011 | In: Money Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
